Monday, January 14, 2013

The Best Pencil Sharpener EVER! Seriously.

No, seriously, folks, this thing is AMAZING!!!

Okay, so here goes - I have seen this sharpener on Pinterest & blogs the last few months, and I just couldn't believe what I was hearing.

I don't know about you, but sharpening pencils has been the bane of my teaching existence since my first year teaching. I have searched high & low for the best pencils to avoid the constant (and I mean CONSTANT) requests and complaints of...

"Can I sharpen my pencil?"
" I just sharpened my pencil and it broke".
" My pencil is only sharpening on the side".
" The lead just keeps falling out!"

And so on....and so on...and so on. The worst were those plastic/paper coated pencils that you get from the Dollar Tree that the kids LOVE. They eat up my electric sharpener and never ever stay sharpened.

This year, I banned all pencils except Ticonderoga. I requested only those on my school supply list at the beginning of the year & anything other than those were donated to others in the school that wanted them. I know that sounds petty, but I swear at least one hour of my school day was spent dealing with pencils.

Then, the best thing happened - Troy from Classroom Friendly Supplies allowed me to use one of his sharpeners to do a review & let me tell you. I am SOLD!!!

Here are some pencils I picked to practice with my new fancy sharpener...

I started with my tried & true Ticonderoga...even though I knew they would sharpen really well, I was amazed at how awesome this thing worked.

I gathered my first grade team mates to watch the magic unfold, too! haha
Here's the Ticonderoga...

Yay for beautifully sharpened pencils!!! The front plate (not sure if that's what you call it) holds the pencil in place and as you sharpen, it gets closer to being flush against the sharpener. When the pencil is sharp, it simply stops sharpening. NO MORE WASTED TIME AT THE SHARPENER...WOO HOO!

Next, was the "other" brands...(the ones that only sharpen on one side, or the lead just slides out right after they have been sharpened). You know the ones....

I forgot to take pictures of all 5 different types I tried, but I PROMISE you they all turned out like this!

Then.....there was the Dollar Tree/Party Favor pencils. The dreaded plastic/paper wrapped ones. The ones the kids love & I loathe.

Yep. Perfection!!!! There was no paper/plastic snags or caught up. No lead broke (and my fellow teachers and I wrote with all the pencils to make sure they would stand up to first grade) & no lead slid out.

My heart literally SANG!

I L.O.V.E my new sharpener....
His name is Sheldon. (Any Big Bang fans out there??)
He is my new best friend.
And, my kids love him, too, because now they can sharpen their "cool" pencils without Ms. Teacher going crazy :)
This is Sheldon in his new home...

You can pick one up for yourself at Classroom Friendly Supplies for $24.99 and FREE SHIPPING!!! How great is that?? Those electric ones (that I have already had like 5 of ) are at least twice of that! My teammates are already trying to figure out how to use our supply funds (we don't have much left) to order one of these things. There are 4 of us on our team & they all want one. So, head on over and grab yourself one. Believe me, you'll be so happy you did !!!

I mean, look at these pencils! They speak for themselves...

With my 300 Follower Giveaway coming up soon, maybe one of these will be part of it. Would you like that as part of a giveaway??? :)

Haha.. I can feel your excitement over this sharpener! I appreciate all of the pics. I got a new sharpener from Santa this year, and let me tell you it was my favorite gift ever! There is nothing worse than a crappy sharpener. If my shiny new one kicks the bucket, I will be putting one of these babies on my list! Thanks for the review!KarenMrs. Jones’s Kindergarten

What is its real name? You promise it is the best because I need 35 maybe 40 for our teachers at our Elementary school. I am a PTO president and I do not want to disappoint them with an a Typical sharpener for their classrooms.

Hi Karlene,I wasn't able to reply via email because I didn't have an email address, but yes,this is the best pencil sharpener. I love it...and my first graders love it,too! There is no "real name"- just Classroom Friendly Supplies Sharpener. Click on the link above & it will take you to the site to order :)

OMG! I want this pencil sharpener. In the fourteen years I have been teaching, there has never been one that lasted the entire school year. It is tiring trying to find a sharpener as you described. And of course, dealing with all the issues cause teachers to lose valuable instruction time. Thank you so much for sharing. Yes, there is hope for the new school year and pencil sharpening management!

As a student at a tech school i'm so happy to have come across this page. Having switched from note taking with pens to pencils, i've been dealing with terrible handheld electric and analog sharpeners(They eat up pencils and spit out disappointment) and rarely sharpen evenly. I'm so hopeful that this will be my last sharpener, it certainly looks like a champion. :)

when I was a kid...back in the dark ages, all the pencil sharpeners were made with this kind of front plate to hold the pencils. My son in law, who went to school in Holland, told me he remembered using one like this too, but could not find anything like it now. I'm going to buy several 4 myself my kids and my grandkids. I did a google image search for pencil sharpeners and there where only twot this style and the other one looked cute, but not as well made. You should be getting a commision from the company that makes these.